girl under 17 in the case of a 16-year-old in Castlederg, County Tyrone, in Northern Ireland whom he had been accused of raping. On 14 August 1994, while he was on bail, 15-year-old Arlene Arkinson, who was also from Castlederg, went missing in Bundoran, County Donegal. She was last seen in a car that Howard was driving. Arkinson is presumed dead, but her body has not been found. Howard was arrested six weeks after her disappearance and was tried in 2005 on charges of murdering her; he was acquitted by the jury, who had not been informed of his previous offences or his conviction for Williams's murder. (The jury in his trial for Williams's murder had heard evidence regarding his grooming both Arkinson and Williams after befriending family members.) An inquest into Arkison's death began in Belfast in February 2016 and included testimony that his earlier offences made him "extremely dangerous" to Arkinson by the time she disappeared. A second inquest in 2021 found him responsible for Arkinson's murder; the coroner also ruled that the police should have arrested him immediately given his known history. Howard died in prison on 2 October 2015 at the age of 71. See also List of solved missing person cases References 2000s in Kent 2001 murders in the United Kingdom 2001 in England April 2001 events in the United Kingdom Deaths by person in England Female murder victims Formerly missing people Incidents of violence against girls Incidents of violence against women Missing person cases in England Murder in Kent Murder trials Rape in England